Post by tkitna on Sept 5, 2015 10:13:13 GMT

Yellow Submarine

The soundtrack to the animated children’s movie. Upon listening to Yellow Submarine, I realized a few things. The first thing would be that I lucked out and really only had to review a few songs since the entire second side is nothing more than George Martins classical pieces. I admit to enjoying those pieces though, but in no way, shape, or form was I going to review each one of them. The second thing I realized is that unless children take acid, I’m not sure how they would enjoy these new Beatle songs. Hardly kid friendly I would think.

Yellow Submarine - Childrens song that I seem to like more than most people. Ringo sings it, nuff said. If anybody wants a longer review, they can revisit the Revolver album review.

Only A Northern Song - I’ve always liked this song, but I have to admit it might be due to the lack of me hearing it very often. When I was listening to it today, I caught myself thinking that if this song were on any kind of compilation, I’d probably skip it. Moving on, I like the organ beginning and when Ringo comes in, his drums sound amazing. I would have to listen to my original CD, but I think the remaster has a lot to do with this. The bass drives throughout the entire song and Paul does some amazing things with it as usual. Sounds good. Georges voice is kind of monotone throughout the song, but I like it and I think it really fits with the emotion of the tune. 0:21 horns come on and sound great. 1:13 orchestra starts playing in the background and is a cool effect. 2:08 the trumpet coming in here is probably my favorite part for some reason. 2:48 timpani drums sound huge here. There’s a lot of things going on in this song and after awhile it feels like you dropped a plate of food on the ground and scraped it back up into a big pile. The pile is this song.

All Together Now - This is not a good song. I really don’t think it was intended to be though. This is the one song the kids probably can relate to with the simplistic lyrics and the catchy tempo. The lads just seem to be having fun if nothing else. Nothing serious here. Acoustic intro is ok, but boring. The counting and saying the ABC’s with the lyrics makes me wonder if Paul wrote this is 2 minutes or so, but he had a habit of doing stuff like this when he couldn’t think of anything to say (Driving Rain anyone?). 0:29 the Bum Bum Bum background vocals are horrible, but Johns voice sounds so awesome that I find myself forgiving them. 0:39 everybody joins in while singing and sounds fun like a pub setting. Ringo’s drumming is decent enough. 0:53 theres a bell in the background when Paul comes in singing. I never heard that before. Bass sounds good. 1:11 think its hysterical and I laugh every time here when this horn part is played. It sounds like the guy playing it is too drunk and just cant muster the effort. Its horrible in a good way. The tempo increase during the ending is good and I like it. Overall this song isn’t good, but I love to hear it when I’m drunk as a skunk. Fun.

Hey Bulldog - Love this song and if it doesn’t hit my top 5 Beatle songs, its definitely top 10. The piano beginning is great and when Ringo joins in with the toms, its pure awesome. The electric guitar tone is fantastic. Dirty and grungy. Bass is terrific. One of Pauls greatest songs for his bass playing in my opinion. Johns voice sounds wonderful here too. The background vocals don’t sound great though. Ok, but nothing more. Speaking of Johns voice though, at the 0:52 mark when he comes in with the ‘You Can Talk To Me’ bit, his voice has never sounded better. Awesome. During that period also, the loud snare beats are sweet and really emphasize the part. 1:13 one of my favorite Beatle guitar solo’s. John does a simple yet fitting solo that doesn’t score high on the technical scale, but overwhelms with what the song calls for. 2:09 they start barking and saying silly stuff in the background. 2:45 madness ensues. A fun, well played song that I can see kids finding enjoyment out of. I know I do.

Its All Too Much - If kids enjoyed Hey Bulldog and sang along to All Together Now, they hid under the bed when hearing this. Its just not child like in any way. I love the Hendrix style guitar opening. 0:16 the organ sounds great. 0:25 Ringo comes in and sounds fantastic. The constant percussion, handclap, cowbell repeating beat annoys the crap out of me. I’d love to hear this song without that once to see what it would be like. 1:03 like Georges voice a lot when he comes in here. 1:07 the doubletracked backgrounds are nice too. 1:15 tambourine comes in out of nowhere and sounds amazing. Just was thinking while listening to the song that I cant help but to feel more of Georges Indian influence here. Maybe its me. 1:42 guitar in the background is great. Love that part. Bass is solid throughout, but that’s no surprise. 2:13 some instrument comes in that sounds something like a fuzz bass. Not sure what it is, but its cool sounding. 2:30 brass comes in. Nice. Ringo really rocks through this entire song. The ending is pretty neat with how they keep repeating ‘Too Much’. Like how Pauls voice comes through there. Overall the song kind of grates on me. Its way too long. They could have cut it in half and it would have had a better effect in my opinion. After all, they repeat ‘Too Much’ and I have to agree with them.

All You Need Is Love - Well, they were still pimping this song it seems and its no better here than it was as a single or on MMT. I hate it and if you need a longer review you can read the Magical Mystery Tour section.

A closing thought, if ‘Hey Bulldog’ wasn’t on this CD, I seriously doubt it would ever come out of the case. Its just not a very good package. A couple repeat tunes, a couple George songs that are not very good, a throw away from Paul, and a silly song from John that’s way better than it should be. Add that onto an entire side of classical music and we have a record with DUD written all over it.

Post by tkitna on Sept 6, 2015 1:34:32 GMT

'Hey Bulldog' is the only song from this that made the ipod. I used to listen to the classical songs when I was in college and studying though. They are pleasant, but just not everyday listening material.

Post by Amadeus on Sept 6, 2015 15:18:22 GMT

Good review. That Hey Bulldog solo is one of a list of ham-fisted signature solos that John has done including Slow Down and You Can't Do That.

Friend: My favorite Beatles song is Band On The Run.
Me: It's not a Beatles song.
Friend: Wot! That guy, that guy, Paul McCartney sings it right?
Me: Yes.
Friend: Alright! That one is my favorite Beatle song.